I will discuss the Blockstream satellite dish but we’ll focus more on the API that was released on Testnet a week ago.
The past few months have been eventful for blockstream. In terms of partnering with ICE and with liquid network and all that mumbo jumbo.. But right now let’s talk about their satellite and why it is important.
So basically Blockstream built their own satellite dish for the purpose of broadcasting the Bitcoin network around the world around the world. But you might be asking what difference does it make? Why a satellite?
Well number 1. Internet is not required. Now I’m not gonna pretend that this affects me a lot coz although I live in a third-world country and we have some of the most overcharging ISPs in the world, I do have internet and its working fine. It’s not cheap, but atleast I have it. But most people all over the world don’t have access to this. As of 2018, only half (55%) the people in the world are connected online.
So The people that benefit from this the most are those that are living in impoverished nations especially in Africa. And…also those that are living in a dictatorial government. North Korea is our best example. Because in this hellhole, internet access can only be permitted with special authorization. You have to be a government employee or a foreigner, otherwise no internet for you. Imagine how it feels like to be living in the dark, cut off from the rest of the world like that. It’s insane.
And there are countries like China that are not completely in the dark, but most foreign website are restricted. Although China has shown mixed feelings with regards to the crypto space, they have proven to us they are not afraid to take action against it. As most of you know they banned ICOs in 2017. In 2018 their government cracked down a lot of exchanges. Big social media companies like Tencent have censored crypto content in their platforms. So it may not be such a far fetch idea that China may one day block crypto news channels from other countries in order to quote unquote, protect their citizens.
With blockstreams API, not only can you send transactions without internet, but you could send encrypted messages too. So in extreme scenarios, we’ll definitely need this feature.
According to Blockstream, this will also help you save by removing costs. Well, I’m not entirely sure about this since you also need to buy hardware materials like a satellite dish and coaxial cables. Yes you will save internet costs but most people do not connect to the internet for the sole purpose of Bitcoin transactions. You probably want to watch youtube video or play online games too and Blockstream won’t substitute for that. But, again, if you’re one of the not-so-privileged, who cannot afford to maintain a monthly subscription to an ISP, then perhaps this might give you a cheaper way to access the Bitcoin network since you only need to set up your satellite dish once.
And lastly, network stability. Blockstream Satellite provides an alternative method for receiving the Bitcoin blockchain that is not affected by connection failure. This protects users against network interruptions and prevents any full node from becoming isolated or partitioned. Because the show must go on.
This is the network coverage of their satellite. As you can see, they reach almost every major landmass of the globe. The exceptions are Antarctica and Greenland but you don’t have to worry because only ice people live in those places.
The Asia regions were only covered about a month ago. So they just had access to this very recently. What’s even more recent is their API.
Remember when I said you could send messages through the lightning network here? Well I’m not a liar so… yeah
However, the maximum message size is limited to ensure that a message can be transmitted within ten seconds. Nobody wants network congestion.
So like I said you could broadcast your data throughout the world paid for using Lightning Network. And its free. For now. Because it is live on testnet. And I warn you not to send real Bitcoins here because you will lose them. Eventually they are gonna move this to mainnet so enjoy spamming messages while this lasts.
And…it’s easy to setup… if you’re a developer. If not, you can still do it. We’ll get to that.
Unrivaled privacy. Unlike data sent over the internet, the source and recipient of broadcasts are not determinable by inspecting broadcast data. privacy can be enhanced by encrypting messages and Payment privacy is ensured through the use of the Lightning Network's onion routing... the problem here is that only a developer knows how to create an application using public key encryption.. the rest of us don’t.
The Blockstream Satellite API is open for anyone to use…. Of course it is. Bitcoin has always been open and it should be.
Now if you want to build your own satellite dish which I do recommend. It’s a good learning experience at the very least. So if you want, there is a detailed guide created by grubles and it is approved by Blockstream themselves.
This is what you need.
A computer with Linux, a raspberry pi can do the job too.
Sufficient data storage. 150 gigs if you’re gonna run a full node, but if not all you need is three.
A satellite dish
And some more parts you could simply buy on Amazon. But I do recommend you check them out on Ebay first, so you could get it cheaper.
I won’t discuss the rest of the guide here since you may not be interested.
I applaud Blockstream for their services but thre are still a lot of obstacles they haven’t overcome. For instance, they’re still using Testnet because of Lightning Network being unstable. But that’s understandable since they just launched the API a few a days ago. But the problem is that it’s a bit difficult for individual who are not tech savvy. I mean most millennials could probably set it up but its not the easiest thing to do. There are 2 parts of the guide: hardware and software, it’s a daunting task and most people would rather not exert effort unfortunately. They have to be in a desperate situation.
You know what would be a good business idea? An open source system that could facilitate the setup and programming process for the average guy. The same way Arduino designs microcontroller kits for building digital devices.
But that’s just my opinion not financial advice. I’m really bullish on blockstream. I don’t really buy the whole conspiracy about them being controlled by banks. These people are world-class cryptographers. I highly doubt that. But everyone is entitled to their own opinion. If you disagree feel free to leave a comment and I will definitely reply.
Damn it feels good to be in crypto! That’s it for today. I hope you got something out of this article
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